ATHENS, Ga. - If not for all of the attention riveted on the quarterback match up of former roommates Aaron Murray and Zach Mettenberger, the tailbacks would be front-and-center entering today’s Georgia-LSU game.
Todd Gurley of Georgia and Jeremy Hill of LSU - both sophomores, both 230-plus pounds, both averaging well over 100 yards rushing per game - are two of the nation’s top running backs. Either of them is capable of driving the outcome of this showdown between top-10 teams.
“It’s exciting,” Georgia Coach Mark Richt said of the talented tailbacks who will converge in Sanford Stadium. “We like ours, and I’m sure they like theirs. And I like theirs, and they probably like ours, too.
“They’re just great players, and it’s going to be fun to watch.”
Powerful and physical backs, they rank Nos. 1 and 3 in the SEC in rushing, separated by less than 9 yards per game. Gurley is No. 1 at 125.7 yards per game, while Hill is No. 3 at 117 yards. They rank Nos. 1 and 2 in the league in scoring, with Hill averaging 12 points per game and Gurley 10.
They also have taken note of each other’s games.
“He got in touch with me,” Hill told reporters in Baton Rouge this week. “He’s a cool kid. I’ll probably talk to him before the game, just holler at him and wish him luck.
“I like the way he runs hard, man. He’s a vicious runner, and he has deceptive speed. I like that about him. He makes guys miss in space. I think we’re similar in some ways.”
Hill ran for 184 yards on 25 carries last week against Auburn, scoring the first two times he touched the ball. In Georgia’s two previous games against top-10 opponents this season, Gurley ran for 154 yards on 12 carries against Clemson and 132 on 30 against South Carolina.
Georgia and LSU have depth at tailback, too. Behind Gurley, the Bulldogs have Keith Marshall, who ran for 759 yards last season. Behind Hill, the Tigers have three others - Alfred Blue, Kenny Hilliard and Terrence Magee - with 100-yard games in their college careers.
Both teams also have big, bruising fullbacks who clear paths for the tailbacks and occasionally carry the ball themselves - Georgia’s 6-2, 260-pound Quayvon Hicks and LSU’s 6-0, 270-pound J.C. Copeland, a Georgia native.
For all of the Murray-Mettenberger hype and both teams’ ability to throw the ball, the Bulldogs and Tigers know they must stop - or at least slow - the other’s running game to win today.
“It’s going to be a pretty nasty game for us if we don’t stop the run early on,” Georgia linebacker Jordan Jenkins said. “I feel like our mind-set is really going to be toward stopping the run. Pressuring Mettenberger, that’s our second goal.”
“They’re going to try to run it on you, so you got to be ready,” Georgia defensive lineman Garrison Smith said. “They’re coming. They don’t make it any secret.”
Sports, Pages 25 on 09/28/2013